What do Indiana Jones, Rambo and Solid Snake have in common?

Oops: A previous version of this post said the guy pictured above was Solid Snake, the hero of Metal Gear Solid 4. It's actually Solid Snake's nemesis, Liquid Ocelot, who's no spring chicken either.

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They all qualify for membership in AARP.

Indiana Jones, played by the 65-year-old Harrison Ford, is nursing his joints as he swings through South American jungles in his latest film, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." This year, Rambo is roused from his weary retirement in the Burmese bush at the ripe age of 61.

The latest aging hero is Solid Snake, the stealthy operative at the center of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The game, which hits store shelves today, is the last installment of the Metal Gear franchise. OK, so technically Solid Snake is only 43 years old in the game, and the qualifying age for AARP is 50. But he suffers from a rapid aging disorder, which wreaks havoc on adds character to his rugged features -- and about 30 years to his appearance. So chances are good the AARP will give him a special dispensation.

"It just seems funny to see Solid Snake running around a battlefield with his gray hairs and wrinkles," said Geoff Keighley, editor of Gameslice. "But he seems to be as agile as ever."

Audiences, many of them aging gamers and baby boomers, are tolerant of this geriatric trend, rewarding them with blockbuster sales -- so long as their heroes can still crack the whip, gut the terrorists and taken on rogue paramilitary armies.

Who says our culture is youth-obsessed?

-- Alex Pham

Image: Liquid Ocelot, the evil boss in Metal Gear Solid 4. Credit: Screenshot courtesy of Konami

Comments

[Jack]

Quote:
Image: Solid Snake, the main character of the Metal Gear Solid game franchise.

Wrong. The pic is of Revolver Ocelot (Liquid Ocelot in MGS4), the antagonist. Not Solid Snake.

[Alex Pham]

Doh! You're right, Jack. Thanks for pointing that out to us.
Alex Pham

[Michael]

Solid Snake in his early 40s looks like so many aging homeless bums I see around San Diego--wrinkles, too much sun, teeth missing resulting in sunken cheekbones, dirty gray hair, often in a dumb ponytail, motorcycle cop moustache, panhandling to get a fix of meth or even a 40 oz malt liquor. What an inspiration for the aging video game geeks.